


Archers of Brooklyn

by notquiteascrazy



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV), Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec should look after his stuff better, B99 AU - shadowhuntersverse, BAMF Rosa Diaz, Badasses of Brooklyn unite!, Gen, POV Alec Lightwood, POV Rosa Diaz, gratuitous crossover fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23841520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquiteascrazy/pseuds/notquiteascrazy
Summary: Rosa & Jake chase a suspect down an alley, not realising that they've stumbled upon three Shadowhunters taking on a horde of demons.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Isabelle Lightwood & Jace Wayland, Alec Lightwood & Jace Wayland, Alec Lightwood & Rosa Diaz, Rosa Diaz & Jake Peralta
Comments: 15
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It all started with a tweet... https://twitter.com/aIxndrIightwood/status/1252912306373066753
> 
> This alternates between Alec's POV & Rosa's POV (perspective changes are signalled by "~"... Hopefully it makes sense from a reader perspective. This is also my first attempt at writing a fight scene so that was pretty interesting to try!

“Alec, watch out. Fire escape”

At his parabatai’s warning, Alec span and fired an arrow at the shax demon poised to leap at him from above. They’d lured the horde away from the busy street to an alley between two buildings and were picking them off as quickly as they could. Izzy’s whip cracked, snaking through two demons at once. The electrum reducing them to ichor and dust on contact. Alec continued to move backwards, loosing another arrow into a creature scuttling along the wall.With the trash lining the alley and the close quarters of the buildings on either side of them, his bow was swiftly becoming redundant. Another shout from Jace drew his attention just in time for him to see another demon launching towards him.

He dropped the bow, ducking out of the way of the demon and pulling his seraph blade. Growling slightly, he thrust the blade directly through the eye of the shax stalking towards him.

A commotion towards the entrance to the alley distracted him momentarily.

“Mundanes” he shouted in warning to his siblings before turning his attention back towards the last couple of demons. He knew that their glamour runes would hide them from sight and that mundanes usually didn’t notice demons unless they were being directly attacked by them but they still needed to be a little careful not to run into them or worse, hit them!

~

Rosa’s heart pounded as she chased down the drug dealer who was currently trying to make a run for it. They’d been looking for the guy for months and finally cracked a lead. He’d been cutting his coke with other chemicals and had so far caused the death of four college students. A tip off had led them to a house party in Brooklyn where Jake had gone undercover as a frat guy looking to score. The suspect was pretty twitchy though and it took less than a minute of interaction before he’d spooked and bolted.

They’d sprinted five blocks when the perp suddenly dove off the main street. “He’s taken the alley on the right, try to head him off” she yelled into her radio as she skidded round the corner, Peralta right behind her.

She quickly scanned the alley. While the only other person in sight was their perp, something was setting off warning bells in her head. The dealer was already several meters down the alley by this point, approaching a chain link fence. Rosa picked up the pace knowing that the obstacle would at least slow him down a little bit.

Her foot suddenly lost all friction and she went sliding to the floor “Gross!” she complained, lifting her hand covered in black ooze. “Jake, get on with it. He can’t get away just because of whatever this crap is”

The cop hesitated for just a second to check she was ok before hightailing it after the criminal.

Rosa groaned again, the black stuff was all over her favourite bike boots and whatever it was stank like burnt rubber. She went to stand, her hand catching something on the ground. What the hell was an arrow doing lying around a dingy Brooklyn alley? The head was covered in the same black goo that she’d lost her footing on. Looking around in confusion she spotted a bow as well…

~

The mundanes had got a lot closer to them a lot quicker than any of the shadowhunters had expected. They clearly had some kind of hunt of their own going on.

While the alley wasn’t necessarily long, the shadowhunters had drawn the demons as far back from the street as they easily could. Alec tried to put the mundanes out of his mind while still keeping one eye on their locations. Between the three of them they had killed the majority of the shax demons, those that were left had become even more viciously determined to survive.

Isabelle’s whip was now rigid in form, easier to control with additional bodies in the alley to be aware of. She was expertly wielding it against two demons at once, alternating between defensive and offensive maneuvers with practiced ease.

Alec swung his blade once again towards the scuttling demons, making contact with it’s foreleg as it launched once more towards him. The demon shrieked and advanced on him, mildly off balance from Alec’s strike, ichor dripping with every movement. 

Alec felt a jolt through his parabatai bond at the same time as he heard the yell. He twisted back to see Jace taking an out of character defensive stance, favouring his right side more than usual. Clearly the shax had caught him off guard as a gash in his left side bled freely. With the ease of years of training together, Alec nudged his elbow against his parabatai to let him know what to expect - back to back they switched positions gracefully as Alec’s blade arced to decapitate the demon which had injured Jace.

From his peripheral vision he saw Izzy shaking off, whip now back around her wrist. Jace stabbed his sword through the remaining demon before collapsing to the ground. Breathing heavily he lifted the tattered remains of his shirt, pulled out his stele and drew an iratze against his side.

Alec felt the wound knitting back together through the bond and relaxed slightly. The battle had been tougher than it should have been and while shax demons were known to travel in packs, this had been a particularly large group. Still, the three of them came away relatively unscathed and the mundanes also occupying the alley were still distracted by their own dramas thankfully.

~

Rosa still felt off about their surroundings. While the only out of the ordinary thing she could see was the weapon and the strange substance she’d fallen in, that wasn’t quite enough to explain the feeling that something around them wasn’t quite right.

Further down the alley the perp had launched himself at the fence and was starting to scramble over, Jake still a few meters behind him. Grinning to herself Rosa grabbed the bow, nocking an arrow and taking aim. She wouldn’t be able to catch him but she could damn well slow him down long enough for Jake to get there! The arrow flew through the air, thankfully unhampered by the slime covering it’s shaft and wedged itself in the dealers left butt cheek.

He yelled in surprise, the sudden impact making him lose his footing and fall to the ground with a shout of pain.

Peralta reached the perp and dragged him to his feet “Trevor McKenzie, you are under arrest for possession with intent to supply, evading police and…”

The rest of his speech was cut off by Trevor yelling “She shot me in the ass. She actually shot me in the ass.” pulling the arrow out and gesturing madly at both of them “What kind of medieval bullshit is this? I am suing you for this bitch!”

“Shut up. You’re coming with us” Jake declared, knocking the arrow he was still brandishing out of his hands and cuffing him. As he dragged the perp back towards the street he thought to ask “Where’d you find a bow and arrow anyway Rosa?”

“Dunno” she shrugged, gesturing to the spot on the floor “should probably take it in as evidence though, just in case this dumbass does try to sue me”

~

Alec stood shellshocked, watching the mundanes walk away with his favourite bow. “What the hell just happened?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec wants his bow back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the Hunters Moon is technically in Chinatown in canon but for this narrative I’ve moved it to Brooklyn to move the plot along. Also if there are any licensing regulations on Bows & Arrows in NYC then *shrug* we’re just gonna pretend those don’t exist.  
> As with chapter 1, this flicks between Rosa & Alec's POVs but hopefully it all makes sense :)

“Listen Alec, I can do some digging and find out what precinct they were from but that’s probably the best I can do. I’ve still got Internal Affairs breathing down my neck, as much as they’re telling me they’ve closed their investigations I can’t risk arousing suspicion by asking for them to transfer the evidence over. You’re on your own for this one I’m afraid” 

“Thanks Luke, let me know when you know more” Alec sighed, hanging up the phone and running his hand through his hair in frustration. Around him the ops centre was it’s usual bustle, with Shadowhunters working at screens and talking over intel on potential demon sightings. Izzy made her way over to him, a calming sight in amongst all the stress.

She pulled at his arm where it was still raised, fingers worrying at the back of his head. “Come on Alec, there’s nothing we can do until Luke calls you back. You need a distraction. Jace & Clary are in the training room? Or you could call Magnus?”

“No. We’re not calling Magnus. He’ll want to magic this mess away and it’s my mess to fix. I’m the head of this institute, I know better than to leave weapons lying around in sight of mundanes. He can’t keep cleaning up after me” not to mention that they’d only just been on their third date, he was still not sure how to manage their professional relationship with the personal developments. Plus, this wouldn’t really be a professional matter given he’d be calling his boyfriend (boyfriend?) for assistance. In short, Magnus wasn’t getting involved. At least they’d managed to get his quiver and spent arrows before anything else had happened!

An hour later, he was starting to feel a little better. He’d spent the time sparring with Jace & Clary, the redhead was starting to show signs of being a semi-competent shadowhunter, if she could only stay out of trouble for more than 3 minutes at a time.

Across the room, his phone started buzzing, wiping the sweat from his brow he strode over and checked the caller ID. Answering the call he got straight to the point.

“Luke, please tell me you have information”

“I do” Luke’s voice, while crackly on the line, was calm and reassuring “Your bow is likely at the 99th precinct - not far from where you said you’d encountered those demons. At least, that’s where the dealer whose name you gave me is. Arresting detectives were Rosa Diaz & Jake Peralta. I don’t know them personally but they have reputations as good guys, usually on the right side of the law but they can be quite unconventional in their approach. This should play in your favour hopefully.”

“Thanks Luke. Any advice on strategy?”

“Well, I’d prefer it if you didn’t steal it back. As I mentioned this morning, IA are watching me like a hawk right now and it will be on record that I searched a name related back to the case that it would be logged under. I’d rather this not fall back on me, I’ve got enough to cover up at the moment as it is. You’re going to have to do this the mundane way if possible”

“OK, understood. We’ll come up with something. Thanks again, we really appreciate your help on this. I really appreciate your help on this”

“Good luck Alec”

Hanging up the phone, Alec spun around to see Jace & Clary already packing up the training equipment.

“We got a break in to plan I take it?” Jace asked.

“No. No theft. We have to come up with a way that can’t be linked back to Luke” Alec said, heading out the training area “Come on, let’s find Iz. We need a strategy” 

~

“Guys, you should’ve seen it. Rosa totally took the guy out” Peralta boasted, returning from signing their perp into holding.

“Yeah and now I’ve got the paperwork to prove it” Rosa grumbled. She didn’t look too phased though, leaning back in her chair, feet kicked up on her desk in the bullpen. She was still admiring the bow she’d found in the alley, twanging absent mindedly at the string as she glared at the room at large.

“Shooting him in the buttock with a weapon you collected from the floor of disease ridden alley will do that” Holt commented, standing rigidly in his office doorway, scolding her “You should be thankful that it was only a surface wound and there’s no sign of infection. He still had to spend the night in hospital Diaz”

“Captain, I’d already clocked the guys wallet was in that pocket, I knew it would slow things down enough without actually maiming him”

“Hmmm. I suppose he should be grateful you are an experienced markswoman in that case” the Captain mused before turning back into his office.

Rosa continued to inspect the weapon in her hands. It was like nothing she’d seen before - elegantly designed and perfectly crafted. Made out of a material she didn’t recognise, it had an almost metallic look but was warm to the touch and extremely light. She was surprised that it had as much power and stability as it did considering it’s gentle weighting. The arrow they had removed from McKenzie’s butt cheek was still in it’s evidence bag on her desk, made out of what looked to be the same material as the limbs of the bow. The arrow was beautifully crafted with a silver point at it’s head and bright red fletching that gave it it’s precise accuracy. On the shaft of the bow were two symbols etched in, just below the fletching, they matched symbols which had also been carved into the bow. They hadn’t been able to identify them as yet but whatever they were, Rosa only hoped they weren’t about to start dealing with some cult types. While cool on paper, cults and vigilantes were the worst kind of stress and trouble.

They’d gone back to the alley with forensics while their drug dealer was getting patched up but there’d been nothing. No more arrows, no trace of the black gunk that had caused Rosa’s fall in the first place. They had sent a sample off to the lab from her clothing but the lab tech had warned that between the small quantity and the potential contaminants in the alley, they probably wouldn’t be able to identify it with 100% confidence. So far, the lab tech had been right judging by the email Jake had just received.

Hi Detective Peralta,

Detective Diaz asked for an update ASAP on the unidentified substance from the alley. I’m afraid I don’t have good news. Our preliminary tests have been unable to identify the exact substance on the detective’s clothing. While there are the expected alley contaminants (animal excrement, food compounds, the usual fibres & hairs) there is something in there that’s causing our equipment some significant problems. I’ve never seen anything like it. While under a microscope it looks quite similar to blood, our analysis shows that it is neither organic nor inorganic in state. To simplify, it appears to be not of this world.

I know that isn’t possible. There are still more tests we want to try and I promise we will because this is the COOLEST sample I have ever received. But I don’t want you to hold out hope that this will give you any clues.  
Thanks,  
Danny

“Dammit” Rosa exclaimed, as if she’d actually carried any hope of getting anything out of the goo. She mainly wanted to know how that beautiful bow had found its way into a garbage strewn alley in Prospect Heights. She also wanted to find the owner to a) check that they weren’t up to no good with the weapon and b) find out why the hell they had ditched it if they weren’t doing something illegal.

She stood up suddenly “I’m gonna go talk to Danny. See if he can hurry up on these ‘other tests’ and give me something more helpful than ‘it doesn’t exist’. It clearly does exist. It ruined my jeans”

Peralta stepped over and laid a hand on her arm to slow her down “Relax Rosa, we both know this won’t solve anything. Plus, you’re scary. It’s no wonder the techs never email you directly. Chill out, we’ll check CCTV in the area - it’s gotta be obvious if someone’s walking around carrying a bow.”

“Fine” she agreed “Let’s see if that grocery store on the corner had any cameras”

~

Alec was not feeling confident as they made their way up the steps of the police precinct. They’d been up most of the night strategizing and the best they’d come up with was a combination of lies, half truths & truths. As the bow-stealing detective was clearly also an archer, there was no choice but for Alec to be the one to retrieve it, the others knew their way around a bow but Alec would need to convince them that he was the owner. Which was less than ideal with Alec being the worst liar of the bunch. Luckily he’d have Izzy to back him up.

Holding open the door for Izzy, he took a deep breath, glad that the only other person around was the young man behind the front desk.

“My brother here lost something in a bar round the corner two nights ago. We went back yesterday but they couldn’t find it. They said we should report it to the police, so here we are” Izzy explained, walking confidently up to the desk and leaning towards the uniformed man. She flipped her hair over her shoulder in a half-friendly, definitely flirty gesture.

“And what is it you managed to lose then?” the bored looking officer asked, barely looking up at her from where he was tapping away at a keyboard.

“A bow”

“Like a pretty pink ribbon?” the officer scoffed, finally looking up at them, taking in Alec’s black long sleeved tee, black combat trousers and laced up boots.

“No, like a bow & arrow bow” Alec scowled, barely keeping the contempt out of his tone.

Now that got the officers attention. He began to stand from his chair, telling them “I think I know just who to speak to. Take a seat & I’ll see if I can get hold of Detective Diaz” before hurrying through the door behind him.

Izzy grabbed Alec by the elbow, pulling him over to the plastic chairs in the waiting area. He refused to sit, too full of pent up energy. How he wished they couldn’t just steal the bow, similar to how they’d rescued the cup from Luke’s precinct. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the shakey alliance with the werewolves though. With Clary at the Institute and Luke being a former Shadowhunter, he was always going to be more sympathetic, the rest of the pack were the problem. Relations between the Shadowhunters & the Downworld were only just starting to show any signs of improvement.

He also had to admit, he was curious about the detective who had taken his bow. He was still annoyed about the whole situation but there was a healthy level of respect for the mundane who was clearly a skilled archer.

OK, maybe he was softening up recently if he was starting to think of mundanes as anything more than a nuisance that needed protection from the shadow world. They were still nuisances that needed their protection but they did have some redeeming qualities occasionally. Obviously he would never let that on to his siblings. They were still teasing him for showing emotion around them whenever Magnus’ name came up in conversation.

The elevator dinged, stirring him from his thoughts. The doors opened to reveal the two detectives he’d last seen in the alley. The contrast between them was stark - the guy slightly scruffy and too relaxed for someone at work, the woman more stern and dressed head to toe in practical black. He held back a snort at the thought that they weren’t dissimilar to him & Jace. Especially having seen them working together to take down the guy they’d chased in the alley.

“It’s showtime brother” Izzy murmured as the detectives made their way over.

~

Rosa took in the pair waiting for them as they exited the elevator. The man had a soldier’s posture, stiff shoulders and wide stance, eyes scanning the room. The woman looked more relaxed, her black dress just a bit too tight & just a bit too short to be considered professional. The dress revealed stark black tattoos spanning her arms & chest. A similar tattoo covered a large portion of the male’s neck too.

“See, told you it was a cult,” Rosa muttered to Jake as they crossed the entryway.

“You here about a bow?” she directed at the waiting siblings.

The female stepped forward, hand extended “Yes, we are. I’m Isabelle Lightwood, this is Alexander, Alec.” she corrected with an easy grin at her brother’s slight cough “He misplaced his bow in the Hunters Moon two nights ago and we’re keen to see it returned”

Rosa arched her eyebrows at the information and briefly shook the woman’s hand “Detective Diaz, this is my partner, Detective Peralta. Follow us” she said stepping back towards the elevator.

There was an awkward silence as they made their way up to the 4th floor. She glanced over at Jake to see him barely containing his glee, of course he’d think a possible cult was the best case ever. Stomping on his foot she glared at him to chill the hell out before turning her attention back to the siblings. There was definitely something strange going on here that she couldn’t put her fingers on. The male, Alec, was rubbing his middle finger against his thumb in a nervous fashion. This only further heightened her suspicions, why would you be nervous about lost property if you had nothing to hide?

She led them into the interrogation room and gestured for them to sit. “Can I get you any water?” she may as well be polite for now, try to put them at ease (as much as she was ever capable of small talk…)

“No thanks,” Isabelle said, smiling sweetly and answering for both of them.

“OK, I need to get the forms, one moment please”

“Forms?” Alec asked nervously “Why do you need forms? I just want to know where my bow is.”

“Sorry Mr Lightwood, we need to ensure we capture as much detail about the object and the situation in which it was misplaced to ensure that we can reunite you with your belongings”

He huffed out a breath and inclined his head slightly in acceptance. “Please call me Alec”

Rosa nodded, exiting the room to return to her desk. Grabbing the papers she’d sorted earlier and a pen she caught Jake’s eye and gestured for him to join her. Re-entering the room she found the pair exactly as she’d left them, Isabelle relaxed in one of the chairs, Alec standing stiffly over her like a bodyguard. She dropped the forms and a pen on the table and pushed them over to them. “If you could complete these in as much detail as possible we’ll run a few checks”

Rosa was pleased when they both leaned over the papers in front of them and without so much as an upwards glance began efficiently filling out the various boxes. Sitting back in the chair across from them, she observed the siblings. They were clearly close, communicating silently in micro-movements and glances. She still couldn’t get a good reading on them but she admired the efficiency with which they seemed to operate. Cult training in action maybe?

All in, the forms only took about ten minutes for the Lightwoods to complete. She reached over to take the completed paperwork, acknowledging that Alec’s use of neat block capitals would put even Santiago’s obsessive admin skills to shame.

“If you could please wait here - I need to check over this information. I’ll be back very shortly though”

She hoped that this wasn’t going to be an absolute mess to untangle, but at least she’d found the bow’s owner. Well, they’d found her technically.

~

As the minutes passed Alec became more convinced that this was all going wrong. They would never pull this off. He paced the length of the small room, occasionally catching sight of himself in the mirrored wall opposite and realising he was looking increasingly guilty. Realistically he wasn’t guilty of anything but they were trying to lie to mundane detectives and that couldn’t end well.

“Relax Alec, it’s all going to be OK” Izzy tried to reassure him.

“I can’t relax Iz. They’ve been gone 20 minutes already. What happens if they don’t buy our story? What happens if they find evidence that we’ve lied? What happens if we don’t get my bow back? What happens if I screw this up entirely and expose the whole Institute and put these mundanes in danger?” He was the goddamn head of the New York Institute. He was a Lightwood. How could he have fucked up this badly?

“Then we’ll find a way to fix it. We always do” she soothed him, standing and coming to wrap her arms around him. A little of the tension left his shoulders at her tight embrace. His sister would always be able to help get him out of his own head.

They look up in unison at the sound of the door opening and the two detective’s returning.

“So can you help me find my bow?” Alec asked instantly.

“We have your bow in evidence right now, we need to clear a few things up though” Detective Peralta informed him, gesturing for them to take a seat.

Alec did his best to act relieved at the information. After all he could hardly admit that he’d watched Detective Diaz pick it up from where he’d abandoned it midway through fighting demons!

“OK, what do you need to know?”

“For starters, who are you both? Really? Neither of you have a driving license, a birth certificate, social security, nothing. There is no trace of Alexander or Isabelle Lightwood” Peralta asked looking more curious than pissed off. His partner on the other hand, observed them silently, arms folded across her chest & clearly suspicious.

Alec mentally cursed the clave - himself & several other institute Heads had been petitioning for months now to allow shadowhunters fake mundane identities for emergencies such as this.

“We were born in Idr-, umm, Alicante” he stuttered, remembering at the last second that mundanes would only be more confused if he bought up their home country but knowing they would just assume Spain if he mentioned the city. He was terrible at lying, how did anyone ever think that he would pull this off?

Luckily, Izzy swooped in to save him “What my brother is trying to say, albeit inarticulately, is that we have spent the majority of our lives abroad however, have recently moved back to the city. As we are not working or claiming unemployment, there has been so far no need for us to register for any of the things you have mentioned”

The detectives looked at each other sceptically. “We’ll look into that. Next question, why the hell did you take a freakin’ bow to a dive bar?” Peralta asked Alec.

“I’d been down on the docks at Red Hook, shooting cans, target practice y’know? Seemed like a safe place to shoot arrows without too many other people around” Alec recited. “Anyway, I lost track of time & I was meant to be meeting my brother for drinks so I just went straight to the bar. I clearly had too many drinks though because I forgot I had the bow with me and didn’t even notice it was gone until I woke up yesterday” Alec panicked the answer sounded too rehearsed, he’d been perfecting the wording all night but now it sounded robotic and fake. They’d covered all the bases though, including getting Maia to agree to be their alibi and triple checking that there were no cameras there that would give the game away. It was foolproof, hopefully.

“I didn’t think it could get worse. But nope, they somehow made it worse. You shot a bow. On the docks?” Peralta’s incredulous expression was almost enough to break Alec’s serious demeanour, if only he knew what they’d actually be doing.

“Um, yeah. Like I said, relatively quiet & plenty of space. Hard to come by in New York” Alec defended, knowing that were the tables turned he’d be equally outraged by someone doing target practice anywhere in the city.

Detective Diaz sat up straighter “You are aware of these things called Archery clubs, yeah? There’s one literally halfway between here and Red Hook. Much safer than shooting around civilians.”

Alec tried his best to school his expression and look at least a little bit sheepish “I hadn’t thought of that I guess. I’ll look into it, if I get my bow back” If only she could see the training room at the institute, no mundane archery club would come anywhere close to the facilities the shadowhunters had at their disposal.

“About that, where did you get the bow? I asked around and none of my contacts recognise the design and couldn’t even guess as to the manufacturer. And trust me, my contacts know weaponry”

Izzy smirked next to him, looking the detective straight in the eye and answering on his behalf “I made it for him” well that was definitely a lie “It’s a one off design” she continued. Technically also a lie. “perfectly crafted for my brother’s build and grip” actually true.

An impressed look flashed across Diaz’s face for a microsecond before her expression turned entirely mistrustful. “Where did you learn to build such precise weapons? And why?”

Alec withheld yet another groan. Why did his sister have to show off about their weapons? Weapons master or not, of course it would only arouse suspicion. Mundanes didn’t just design weapons fit for soldiers for fun.

“I’ve been building them since I was thirteen” Izzy admitted with a small giggle “Of course, not actual weapons. Like replicas of movie props and games. It used to be just for conventions and something I did with friends but I was good at it. Like, really good at it. So I went to design school. The bow was my final year project & a present for my brother because he’s always loved archery. It’s good isn’t it?”

The detective only hummed in acknowledgment. Pursing her lips together, her brow furrowed.

“I’m gonna be honest here, you don’t seem like the convention sort” Detective Peralta said, eyeing Izzy curiously “But then maybe the tattoos do give off a bit of a nerd vibe I guess. What’s with that anyway?”

“Our family’s really into history. Like, really into history. Dad’s an archaeologist and studied this ancient warrior tribe that believed they were descended from angels. They had all these different symbols, runes they called them.” Izzy was terrifyingly good at lying, smoothly explaining away their birthright “Anyway, each rune has a different meaning or purpose behind it, designed to aid the warriors in battle. It kind of became a family tradition that when you needed support not only would your siblings have your back but you’d call on ‘the angels’ for help. Of course, we don’t really believe in angels and all that crap, but the tattoos are just reminders of the hard times in our lives. Like this,” Izzy gestured to the deflect rune on her brother’s neck “this is for deflection. My brother used to HATE being the centre of attention so one night we got him drunk and convinced him to get the deflect rune really big, joking that it would give a topic of conversation and deflect away from useless small talk, which he hates. Anyway, now everywhere we go we avoid small talk because people always want to know what the tattoos all mean”

Alec glared at her “Talking about the runes still qualifies as small talk if it’s with someone you don’t care to talk to”

Detective Diaz caught his eye with a small smirk, clearly agreeing with his opinions on petty conversation. The tightness in Alec’s chest loosened marginally, they still had a battle ahead of them but this was the most confident he’d felt about any resolution to this mess. 

“Final question. Where’s the quiver?”

Safely back at the institute Alec thought to himself. “Wait, is it not with the bow?”

“No, when we found the bow, it was abandoned in an alley 6 blocks over from the bar you were drinking in. There was only one arrow with it.”

“Oh. That’s not good. There were half a dozen arrows in the quiver, I’m sure. I hope no one has been hurt by this” Hopefully the remorseful citizen act would swing this in their favour, if he hadn’t laid it on too thick.

“So far we’ve had no reports of members of the public being attacked by medieval weaponry. Well, apart from one guy but he was a drug dealer and Rosa shot him so it doesn’t count” Detective Peralta assured him.

“Shut it, Jake” a soft thud echoed from under the table and Peralta grimaced.

“What I mean to say is, you clearly got lucky this time in that no one was hurt. There’s no law about publicly carrying them in New York State. It’s only you two weird enough to own bows anyway. But the point is, don’t take weapons to bars”

~

“Jake a word, please” Rosa glared at her colleague.

She stood and held the door urging him to hurry up. As soon as the door closed she laid into him “What the hell man? What’s with the ‘you clearly got lucky this time’ crap? You think we should just let them go?”

“Is this because you don’t want to give up the awesome bow Rosa?”

“It is cool” she admitted begrudgingly.

“Look, their story checks out. And while he’s intensely unfriendly, they do seem legit. We’ve got no reason to arrest them or even keep the bow from them”

“Ughh, fine.” she stalked back to her desk, grabbing the bow and the release forms. “They can have it back. It’s crap anyway, a bow this light doesn’t have enough stability”

“You scare me, you know that right?” Jake said, leading the way back to where the Lightwood siblings were waiting.

Alec was halfway out his seat the moment they entered the room,, his face animating at the sight of his bow. Rosa held it back, glaring at him until he sat back down.

“We’re giving you this back. We have no reason to hold it. As Detective Peralta informed you, there are no laws against owning a bow in New York. But you still need to be a responsible weapon owner.”

“Yeah, no more taking bows into bars. Or shooting stuff in public. Join a club. Or compete with Rosa.” Peralta chimed in.

Alec at least had the good grace to look remorseful as he nodded in agreement. She still didn’t like this one bit, but Jake was right they had to let him go. And give him the cool bow back.

“What about the arrow, detectives? You mentioned you found one with the bow?” Izzy asked.

“That’s evidence in an ongoing investigation. We’ll need to hang on to that” Rosa informed them. “Now if you could just sign these forms here and here, you can get out of here”

Alec’s brow furrowed as his eyes quickly scanned the documents in front of him before he grabbed the offered pen and scratched a quick signature as requested.

He grabbed the bow off the table, gripping it tightly to his chest in an almost hug. Rosa almost cracked a smile at that. She could appreciate the love of a favourite weapon and there was something truly special about using a bow & arrow. She could understand why he’d want to be reunited quickly with it. Sure guns were more efficient and readily available, easier to shoot too. But nothing compared to the feeling of nocking an arrow, how the string would feel against your fingers as you pull it back, The tension and resistance as you took aim, the deep steadying breath for the release. Yes, shooting a bow & arrow was meditative. And she was long overdue a session at the range.

She was pulled out of her revelry by the scrape of chairs.

“Thanks Detectives” Alec said, holding out his hand & shaking with first Peralta then her.

“Yes, thank you both so much. He’s been insufferable thinking he lost this thing. I was not looking forward to having to craft him a new one” Izzy gushed as she also shook their hands.

Rosa walked the pair to the elevator, pressing the down button for them. “Join an archery club man, seriously” she pushed before nodding them into the elevator, thankful her shift was almost over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I over complicated this a bit at points but that was to smooth things over so next time around Rosa & Alec can hang out & do cool archery things together

**Author's Note:**

> Want to chat to other Malec fans? Come hang out in the [Malec Discord Server](https://discord.gg/5nBgEp8)!


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